Welcome to chapter 14. As usual's *'s means notes at the bottom, a (P) means a perspective change, and italicized words means I'm either quoting a character or reading something. So let's read.

CHAPTER 14 – A Temporary Substitute

We all watched the footage on the TV and saw that Skipper had left about a half hour before the rest of us woke up and had headed to Marlene's home. We all jumped out of the HQ towards her habitat, landing in the pond. "Marlene?" we asked, while walking in the cave. Mysteriously, she wasn't there either, but there was a note. The note said, Good morning, men. Go to the car. Signed, Skipper. "Why would he tell us to go there?" Private asked aloud. I suspected something, but wasn't sure yet.

We all belly slid towards where the car usually is, behind the pillar inside of the clock tower. We opened the pillar and there was nothing there, except for another note. I picked up the note and read it aloud.

Good prompt action, men. If you haven't guessed where Marlene and I are by now, we've left for our honeymoon. We'll be back in about a week. We already temporarily took Marlene out of the system and Matthew should make a good 4th penguin substitute until we return. Kowalski is in charge, but please; don't take it too far like last time. * We'll see you soon. The letter was signed, Sincerely Skipper, in his handwriting and Love, Marlene in her handwriting.

"So they went on their honeymoon, eh? I hope they have fun, wherever they went," I said. "Alright, gentlemen, Skipper has placed me in charge again," Kowalski said authoritatively. "Kowalski, he said not to take it too far," Private reminded him. "Sorry. My mistake. Let's just do what we normally do, since we don't lack a 4th penguin this time," Kowalski suggested. We closed the pillar, hiding the spot from everyone and made our way back to the HQ.

"I'm sure glad you guys trained me in being cute and cuddly along with the rest of the training," I said. "It was our pleasure," Private said. We arrived back at the HQ, making breakfast. Thankfully, we had actual fish, and not the phony fish cakes. **

A few hours later, it was time for the zoo to open. We were eagerly waiting for Alice to start selling the fish we would get to eat later. After she sold it, first we played hard to get, making the crowd restless. After a few seconds, it was time.

"Let's make it extra cute and cuddly today," Kowalski said, taking over Skipper's usual lines. For the next few minutes, we danced around on the island, performing belly slides, waddling in cute ways, pretending to fall into the pool, and many other cute and cuddly antics. ***

We stopped after a few minutes, at which point the crowd literally dumped pounds of fish on us. "Wow, this is a lot of fish," I said after the crowd dispersed. "I calculate this is 10% more fish than usual," Kowalski said. "I can see why you guys like doing that," I said to them all after eating one of the fish. "It's jolly good fun," Private said.

A few hours later, the zoo was closed, which meant we were now free to do whatever we wanted again. "What should we do now?" I asked Kowalski. "You recharged your phone during the day inside, so we should probably see what's going on in your dimension," Kowalski said. We made our way down the ladder and headed into Kowalski's lab. "Do you think I'm still on my universe's connection, Kowalski?" I asked, wondering if my phone had somehow joined a network here.

"I calculate there is a 98% chance of that being the case," Kowalski replied. With that, we turned the phone back on and placed it on the table. It booted, got the connection, and then thousands of notifications started pouring in. "I guess that answers the question. I've never got this many notifications before," I said.

We went to the browser and navigated to Google News. The top articles were still about us. "I guess we caused a big stir, right guys?" I asked the group. "How are you going to tell your family next week?" Private asked, concerned. "Well, since they probably know what happened by now, I don't know. Do you have any options, Kowalski?" I asked him.

"I'd suggest telling them everything from the beginning, including the parts we left out for the press," Kowalski suggested. "Thanks for the idea. Speaking of explaining things, do you still have a computer? I'd like to make a DVD of the wedding for Skipper and Marlene," I said.

"Well, after Skipper ordered us to destroy Kowalski's hard drive when Chuck Charles worked here, he lost it for a bit," Private explained. "Oh, right. I forgot. But I do remember Marlene saying something back at the start of the adventure," I said. "What?" the penguins asked curiously.

"I remember her saying she wanted to get you guys and herself some phones so you could all communicate better. Maybe we could get some for them as a wedding present when they return, along with a new computer to manage the phones," I suggested.

"We don't have that many sardines," Kowalski said sadly. **** "I don't know if it'll work or not, but I've still got my wallet with me somehow. Maybe I could pay for them," I said. "Good. We'll go to the store tonight. What did you have in mind?" Kowalski asked.

"Well, I'd say we should get waterproof phones, but I don't know if those exist here yet," I said. "We can go check at the store downtown on 5th Avenue," Kowalski said. "Kowalski, I don't know if you have Apple Stores here or not, but if that's what you're talking about, that one is open 24 hours and iPhones aren't waterproof," I replied.

"Oh, I was talking about the actual cell phone store," Kowalski explained. "That sounds like a plan then," I replied. We spent the next few hours devising a plan to get in the store, pay for the phones, set up service for them, and leave. (P to that night)

"Alright, roll out men," Kowalski said. "How long will it take us to get downtown Kowalski, because we don't have a car at the moment," I asked. "Considering we can belly slide and jump from object to object, I'd say no more than 20 minutes," Kowalski explained. "I wish I could move that fast back home. Let's move out!" I said.

Twenty minutes later, we had reached our destination. "Rico paperclip," Kowalski asked him. Rico regurgitated one and handed it to Kowalski. He successfully picked the lock. "Wait, what about alarms? You know what happened on that snack run," I reminded Kowalski. ***** "Rico, aerosol can," Kowalski said. Once again, Rico regurgitated the item and we sprayed it towards inside.

Suddenly, a laser appeared in front of us, but we jumped over it easily. We sprayed again, but this time no more security lasers appeared. "They really should get better security here," I said. "Alright everyone, read the descriptions of the phones to see if they are waterproof," Kowalski said.

After a few minutes, we found one. "Alright, here comes the test to see if money is multi-universal," I said before swiping my card. Somehow, it worked. "I wonder if it's billing me or some poor person who has the same card here," I wondered to the group. We bought five phones, along with unlimited everything plans and exited the store, making sure to lock it back up and not walk through the alarm laser.

"I'd say mission accomplished," Kowalski said as we belly slid back to the HQ. "You've got gift wrap for the two phones for them, right?" I asked. Next to me, Rico nodded. "Good. We'll wrap them up when we get back," I said. (P to two days later)

It was Friday and Alice had closed the zoo for repairs on the children's area, so we were able to relax in the HQ. I walked into Kowalski's lab, curious to see what he was working on today.

"What are you working on Kowalski?" I asked him. "I'm working on a new Multi-Dimensional Walkie Talkie, that way you'll be able to contact us and vice versa when you return home," Kowalski explained. "I was actually just going to ask you about that. Thanks for the invention, in advance," I said.

"It's no trouble," he said. "Do you think the humans here can understand me, like they can understand you guys back home?" I asked. "I'd think so, but I wouldn't push our luck," Kowalski said. "I remember you wishing for the plasma blaster and were all discovered when you set it to Turbo," I replied. ****** "Once again, that was all in Private's mind, but I get your point," Kowalski said. "Yes, I definitely don't want to cause any detrimental damage like Blowhole did back in my universe," I replied.

That's it for chapter fifteen. Please rate and review. Time for notes.

* I'm referencing when Kowalski took over from Skipper when the Blue Hen messed with the PELT tests in "PELT".

** I'm referencing "Go Fish" with the phony fish.

*** I'm using the antics from the beginning of "Go Fish" and from "Field Tripped."

**** I'm referencing the sardine to money conversion in "The Most Dangerous Game Night".

***** I'm referencing that episode again, this time when Kowalski forgot to double check for silent alarms.

****** I'm referencing "Wishful Thinking" where Kowalski's invention went wrong, again.